Technical Criteria for Accessibility.

The European Accessibility Act requires products and services to meet specific accessibility requirements. To help businesses understand how to implement these requirements correctly, the EAA relies on technical criteria in the form of harmonized standards and technical specifications.

These technical criteria provide detailed, measurable specifications that can guide the design, production, and assessment of products and services. When a product or service complies with these technical criteria, it is presumed to be in conformity with the EAA requirements.

Harmonized standards are European standards developed by recognized European Standards Organizations (ESOs) such as CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI. They provide a crucial role in the EAA compliance framework:

• When a product or service complies with harmonized standards, it is presumed to comply with the EAA requirements covered by those standards
• Compliance with these standards is voluntary, but they provide a straightforward path to demonstrating conformity
• The European Commission periodically publishes references to harmonized standards in the Official Journal of the European Union
• Harmonized standards translate the general requirements of the EAA into detailed technical specifications

Using harmonized standards simplifies the conformity assessment process and provides a common approach across the EU market.

When harmonized standards don't exist or aren't sufficient, the European Commission can adopt technical specifications:

• Technical specifications provide detailed requirements where harmonized standards are not available
• Like harmonized standards, products and services that comply with these specifications are presumed to conform with the EAA
• They are published as implementing acts by the European Commission
• Technical specifications may be developed more quickly than full harmonized standards

The availability of both harmonized standards and technical specifications ensures that businesses have access to technical criteria for all products and services covered by the EAA.

Technical criteria include specific methodologies for measuring accessibility:

• Test procedures to verify that products and services meet accessibility requirements
• Measurable parameters such as font sizes, contrast ratios, and force requirements
• Assessment methodologies for evaluating both objective and subjective accessibility features
• Validation methods to ensure that digital interfaces comply with accessibility requirements

These methodologies help ensure consistent assessment and implementation of accessibility features across different products and services.

When choosing standards to follow, organizations should consider:

• Official status - Prioritize harmonized standards officially recognized by the European Commission
• Scope alignment - Select standards that specifically cover your product or service category
• Date of publication - Use the most recent versions of standards
• International recognition - Consider internationally recognized standards when harmonized standards are not available
• Industry consensus - Choose standards that are widely accepted in your industry

Organizations should regularly check the Official Journal of the European Union for updates to the list of harmonized standards relevant to the EAA.

While the complete list of harmonized standards is published in the Official Journal, these are some of the key standards likely to be relevant:

• EN 301 549 - Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services
• WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) - For web interfaces and applications
• EN 17161 - Design for All accessibility framework
• EN 17210 - Accessibility and usability of the built environment
• EN 17260 - Accessibility and usability of the built environment
• EN 60268-16 - Sound system equipment, measurement of speech intelligibility
• EN 300 743 - Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), subtitling systems

These standards cover different aspects of accessibility, from digital interfaces to physical features, and provide detailed technical specifications to guide implementation.